Former Vice President Joe Biden’s return to New Hampshire at the end of April has already sparked speculation about a possible run for president in 2020.

The state’s top two Democratic lawmakers stopped short of providing Biden with very premature presidential endorsements, but Sen. Jeff Woodburn of Dalton and Rep. Steve Shurtleff of Penacook said they were excited that he will be back in the first-in-the-nation primary state.

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“I would love to see him get into the 2020 race,” Shurtleff said. “He will bring a lot to any campaign, and he is well-liked and would be a very viable candidate.”

“It’s very exciting, and anytime a national politician shows up in New Hampshire-- this is, after all, New Hampshire, and speculation occurs,” Woodburn said. “Joe Biden is someone who will excite and give some focus to everything that is happening in Washington.”

The state Democratic Party announced Monday that Biden will be the featured speaker at its annual McIntyre-Shaheen 100 Club Dinner on April 30 at the Radisson Hotel in downtown Manchester. The dinner, which has been held annually since 1959, is named after the late Sen. Tom McIntyre and current Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a former governor.

Biden will appear just three days after President Donald Trump’s former Republican rival, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, appears in the state to promote his new book. Although Kasich has said he has no intention of running for president in 2020, his appearance is sure to spark speculation to the contrary.

Biden made several appearances in the state during the 2016 general election campaign on behalf of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, most recently just more than two weeks prior to the election. He ran for president in the Granite State in 1987 and again in 2008.

And he strongly considered running in the 2016 race, but decided against it --in the fall of 2015 following the death of his son, Beau Biden. His decision came after his supporters in the state had set up a “Draft Biden” organization, with three staffers.

As recently as last week, Biden said, at an appearance at Colgate University, he could have defeated Trump.

“Do I regret not being president? Yes,” he said. “Do I regret not running for president in light of everything that was going on in my life at the time? No.”

At the University of Pennsylvania, Biden indirectly criticized 2016 presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

"What happened was that this was the first campaign that I can recall where my party did not talk about what it always stood for, and that was how to maintain a burgeoning middle class," Biden said. "You didn't hear a single solitary sentence in the last campaign about that guy working on the assembly line making 60,000 bucks a year and a wife making $32,000 as a hostess in restaurant."

NHDP Chairman Raymond Buckley said the party is “thrilled” about Biden’s appearance at the dinner. He noted that Biden attended the McIntyre-Shaheen event in 2011 and in 1986.

Biden will be 78 years of age on Nov. 20, 2020.

“I really don’t think age will be a factor,” Shurtleff said. “There are people who are 60 who are old, and others at 80 are still young.”

“The comparison between him and the current president would be very revealing,” Shurtleff said. “He has a lot of dignity that he brought to the position of vice president.”

“Democrats are already fired up and excited about the prospect of change,” Woodburn said. “He won’t be shy and he’s certainly viable. All the rules are out the window. We are just going to take every candidate on their own merits. There are no front-runner, no insiders and no outsiders.”